What's the difference between fans at a Nine Inch Nails concert and listeners at a classical music event? The Rosemont (Ill.) Public Safety Department is happy to explain, as its service area includes two performance venues and a convention center.

“We're a public safety department,” says Chief Joe Rizzo, who has been with the department for 32 years with the last three as chief. “Our men are trained in police, fire and as EMTs, so if an incident happens, we're pretty much prepared for it. We do get hired by the hotels for security and EMS.”

Rosemont, which covers less than three square miles outside of Chicago, is home to about 4,000 people. Its infrastucture is 25% residential and 75% commercial/industrial. The village went to the public safety concept in 1976, and the department now includes 74 uniformed police/fire personnel and 350 auxiliary personnel, who also are trained in CPR, AED and first aid.

All first responders are cross-trained as police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians. It takes about a year to complete the training with basic knowledge, followed by continuous training to build on those skills. Firefighters are trained in police skills at least eight times a year to maintain their proficiency as police officers; likewise, police are trained as firefighters eight times a year. EMT training is ongoing, and all personnel are trained quarterly on AED operation and annually in CPR.

Although it's a fairly small community, the village of Rosemont has five ambulances. On duty at all time are two ALS ambulances in two stations. Rosemont has contracted with Public Safety Services Inc. for 12 paramedics, four per day on each shift. Paramedic-in-Charge Bob Kolder is also vice president of PSSI.

Arena assignments

The Allstate Arena is Rosemont's larger performance venue. Built 25 years ago, it can accommodate up to 19,000 people and is a popular site for sporting events, including arena football, basketball, hockey, and motorcycle and monster truck rallies. The arena also hosts a broad range of concerts and other large-scale performances.

Kolder coordinates all assignments for the Allstate Arena. Capt. Rob Townley is in charge of the Special Services Bureau that coordinates the security detail, and the Fire Prevention Bureau handles EMS and fire inspection. At most events the department will assign five personnel and a paramedic-in-charge. Two ambulances are placed in reserve.

“That's the typical sporting events, Disney on Ice shows, carnivals, circuses, things where the attendance is around 1,000 to 8,000 people,” says Kolder. “From that point on, we'll make the decision whether we'll start adding a third ambulance or putting med-teams or med-crews. For a major concert event, we'll have approximately 16 personnel assigned to that building with three ambulances, four med-teams and two supervisors. If we need outside resources, we bring in our firehouse vehicle.”

Although Rosemont details its own public safety personnel, the department also uses security specialists, full-time police officers who work for other surrounding towns, including Chicago.

“Experience has taught us a lot over the 25 years at that building,” Kolder says. “We've pretty much got a good feel for what our staffing should be.” If the department is not sure how an event might be, Kolder will call where the event was held previously to find out how things were handled.

For a recent classical music concert, staffing was adjusted because a lot of elderly people were expected to attend. If they parked on the expansive south side of the building but had seats on the north side, Kolder was prepared to move them from one side of the building to the other.

“For the Andre Rieu concert, we knew we were dealing with elderly people that were walking down stairs,” Kolder says. “Most did very well going down the stairs, but we knew that coming up the stairs might just be an arm to hold coming up the stairs, but we also had Stryker Teams or Stryker stair chairs.”

Different agendas

Rizzo and Kolder agree that the Rieu concert and its elderly audience were challenging, but they say that some of the rock concerts can be pretty tough, too. “In the past, when drugs were more prevalent, [security] would fill large garbage cans with liquor and drug paraphernalia,” says Rizzo. “Typically, they don't bring it in anymore. They do a cursory search for bottles, cans, knives, guns, and female officers check purses. In the past, when the Allstate Arena first opened we got everything!”

Every performance has a different agenda. When the building opens, the department stages personnel on all four sides. These preplaced teams are essential because once the crowds start to enter, the halls get congested.

Typically, a concert will begin to fill within an hour or just over, which Kolder says is a very manageable amount of time to move people within the arena seating areas. At the end of a show, it becomes more difficult, so one of the fire department ambulances can be called to stand by at the arena for EMS responses. This gives the department the ability to use all the assist teams, yet have one medical team available for any emergency response.

“If that team is tied up in a call, we pull one of the assist teams so they are ready to go at any point,” Kolder says. “Our goal is to get people out as fast as they want. The longest anybody waited for us was five minutes.”

EMS response at large-scale events is expected within a minute or minute and a half, which can be difficult from a fire station. The Allstate Arena provides Rosemont Public Safety with a first-aid facility that can hold seven patients at a time. “We have a nice spacious facility and the Allstate Arena has been very kind to make sure what we need,” Rizzo said. The department does notify the two nearby hospitals as to what type of an event is scheduled so that they may staff accordingly.

Rosemont police officers can be used as EMTs, which happens frequently when concerts are expected to include mosh pits. These events are usually very quiet in the beginning, then after an hour and a half the audience starts swarming and passing people over their heads. The highest call volume so far was 63 medical responses in four hours for a Nine Inch Nails concert.

“It does put more pressure on the department because they have to be a very good police officer and they have to be a very good firefighter and very good EMT,” says Rizzo. “Here in Rosemont, it's the training and education that keeps our personnel up to speed and effective for the village of Rosemont. I know that when we've had concerts and it's gotten bad, I know that I can ask for help.”

Other venues

A few miles from the Allstate Arena is the 4,400-seat Rosemont Theater, the 840,000-square-foot Donald E. Stephens Convention Center and more than 5,000 hotel rooms near O'Hare International Airport. How does the department cope with so many large-scale facilities within its jurisdiction?

“Everyday we play ‘what if?’” Rizzo says. “You can't think about it. What if you don't wake up in the morning or get across the street? That's the fire service — you can sit around all day and not get a call or you can be busy all day.”

In the event of an emergency evacuation at the Allstate Arena, Kolder says that they “open the main doors and take them outside. We have direct exits out the side stairs to remove everyone quickly out of the main floor or side.” According to Rizzo, the main floor leads to a tunnel that has an overhead door to allow for mass evacuation from the lower levels. Concertgoers also can evacuate through an ancillary room that's usually empty but may be used as a party room after concerts.

For fire departments serving stadiums or other venues, Rizzo advises that planning is key. “Talk to the people that are building the facility; tell them what you need up front,” he says. “Do some homework. Talk to other communities that have these facilities and see what they do and what they need.”

Kolder adds, “We preplan and prepare heavily. If I walk into the chief's office or the captain's office and say that I feel we need one thing or another, I cannot recall a time when they have turned me away. Whatever resources I need, I have. If I feel it's overwhelming, the fire department will respond. That shift commander becomes the person in charge of the event at that time, and I report to him. It's a well-thought out plan with 25 years of education behind it, but it's effective and working very well.”

Of course, it costs the Allstate Arena to hire the department. “It costs them a lot of money,” Kolder says, “but my father taught me that prevention is cheap, and we're there to prevent. It's all about customer service. You're inviting all these people to your community and you want to make sure they are safe. We want them to have a positive experience.”